ONEIDA - The council took a moment of silence at the beginning of Tuesday's meeting to honor Mayor Don Hudson, who passed away Friday, before delving into the order of succession in the wake of his death.

City Attorney Nadine Bell clarified the city charter's directive in the circumstance that the mayor is unable to serve his term. While the charter provides careful language as to the order of succession, she said it doesn't particularly explain what to do in the situation of the mayor dying while in office.

The charter governs that the deputy mayor, Ward 3 Councilman Max Smith, will now serve as acting mayor. While he won't become mayor, he will assume the office's duties and responsibilities. He is the first black man in the city's history to hold the administration's top position. Smith will hold that office until the next general election. Because the 2012 election is just weeks away, the next election is considered the general election in 2013.

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Smith will maintain his right and privilege to vote, Bell said. And will still represent Ward 3. Where the mayor would have held the deciding vote in a tied vote by the council, now a tied vote will result in the motion failing.

Tasked with deciding who would replace Smith as acting deputy mayor, Ward 2 Councilman David Cimpi was unanimously nominated. Cimpi refused the $500 stipend the deputy mayor receives. Smith will resume the mayor's salary but will return $6,220 back to the budget next year for his earnings as councilor and deputy mayor.

Smith never truly appreciated the gravity and seriousness of the responsibilities that fall on the mayor as a councilman, he said.

"I'm feeling that fully now," he said, pledging to do his best to serve the city and to continue what Hudson started, to continue a "proud legacy of Don."